An optometric physician is a type of health professional who specializes in vision issues. They are trained and dedicated to ensuring that their patients have the best vision possible given their individual circumstances. An optometric physician accepts patients for consultations on issues relating to their eyes, as well as any perceived difficulties that such issues may be causing them. The optometric physician’s responsibility would be to use the knowledge gained through extensive training as well as the experience gained through constant practice to assess the patient’s condition in order to arrive at a diagnosis and a possible solution to the problem.
When patients visit an optometric physician, he or she will usually listen to their complaints, ask questions to clarify certain issues, and then perform a series of tests aimed at either eliminating or confirming certain suspected conditions. A patient may, for example, complain of vision problems that make it difficult to see certain objects in certain situations. The optometric physician will perform tests to determine the exact problem, such as asking the patient to read some letters that range in size from large to small, in order to determine the patient’s level of vision accuracy. When a patient has trouble reading letters, the optometrist may conduct additional tests, which may lead to the testing of various lens strengths to see if any of them can help improve the patient’s vision.
Aside from vision, the optometric physician examines the patients for underlying factors that may be contributing to the condition or separate diseases or conditions in and of themselves. A cloudiness of the eye that appears to obstruct some portion of the eyeball is an example of this, which could be the result of eye deterioration from other diseases, such as diabetes, or other factors. They can also treat eyes that have been physically injured by perforations, splashing of corrosive or harsh liquids, or the effects of noxious vapor or gasses. Some are general practitioners, which means they treat patients from all walks of life, while others specialize in a specific field, such as pediatrics.